Kaduna govt trains 60 technical teachers, instructors

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has trained 60 technical teachers and instructors as part of project to boost technical education in the state .
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology Prof. Andrew Nok disclosed this during the closing ceremony of a five-day practical skills training in Kaduna yesterday.
Professor Nok, further said, the state government is planning to send its technical teachers to Germany in other to enhance technical Education.
According to him, the teachers will be train in automobile mechanics, electrical electronics, engine building, vehicle services and maintenance, among others.
He said that a memorandum of understanding would soon be sign with the German government to make it a reality.
The commissioner said that the step was to ensure that technical teachers in the state were well equipped to provide quality practical skills training to their students.
Nok said that the just concluded training to improve the practical skills of technical teachers was one of many efforts designed by the state government to boost technical education in the state.
He added that plans have been concluded to address the challenges affecting technical education in the state such as poor facilities, obsolete equipments and lack of consumables needed for practicals.
According to him, technical education is key in achieving sustainable development, and that the state will do everything possible to exploits the potential of technical education.
“Our desire is to utilised the potential of technical education to address the problem of unemployment by building an army of technically skillful youths to bridge the manpower gap in the technology sector.
“We are currently renovating our schools and equipping them with the needed facilities to ensure quality.
“In no distant time, our technical colleges will be renovated and equip with modern equipment and facilities to ensure practical-based teachings.
“We want our automobile mechanical students for example to be able to fix and service government vehicles; electrical electronic students to be able to fix mobile phones. I assure you we shall get there.”
Earlier, participants of the training in a communiqué read by the Chief Facilitator of the training, Alhaji Audu Gambo, decried the poor state of workshops in technical colleges and secondary schools in the state.
They pointed out that most technical colleges and secondary schools in the state did not have functional workshops, adding that those with functional workshops were crippled with obsolete and dysfunctional equipment and machines.
They, therefore, urged the state government to renovate and equip schools’ workshops with the needed facilities to boost the quality of technical education in the state.
They equally said that the existing five technical colleges in the state were not enough, and recommended that 18 more be establish such that each local government area would have a technical college to improve access.
The participants also advised the government to prioritise gender-friendly vocational trades to give more opportunities to girls who have flair for emerging gender-sensitive trades.
“There are emerging trades some of which are gender-friendly namely catering, fashion design, garment, tailoring, printing, cosmetology, information and communication technology and many others.
“Some of these trades should be introduced in the existing colleges and those to be established in the future, ” they said.

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